For the baseball team that played in the National Association 1871-1875 and in the National League in 1876, see: Athletic of Philadelphia. In the prologue to his 1999 work, The Athletics of Philadelphia, author David M. Jordan states that Philadelphia “had been a baseball town from the earliest days of the game, fielding amateur teams since at least the early 1830s. ...

For the American League baseball team see: Oakland Athletics. The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. ...

The Philadelphia Athletics were one of six charter members of the American Association, a 19th Century major league, which began play in 1882 as a rival to the National League. The other teams were the Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Red Stockings, Eclipse of Louisville, Pittsburgh Alleghenys, and St. Louis Brown Stockings. The team took its name from a previous team, the Athletic of Philadelphia, which played in the National Association from 1871 through 1875 and the National League in 1876. The American Association was a professional baseball league from 1882 to 1891. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... MLB logo Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of play in professional baseball in the world. ... This article refers to the American baseball league. ... The Philadelphia Athletics were a charter member of the National Association of Professional Baseball Players, baseballs first major league, from 1871 to 1875. ... The National Association of Professional Baseball Players, or simply the National Association, was founded in 1871 and lasted through the 1875 season, after which its stronger teams created the National League. ...

For the ten years of their existence, the Athletics were generally a successful franchise, winning 633 games and losing 564, for a winning percentage of .529. The team won the AA pennant in 1883, finishing one game ahead of the St. Louis Brown Stockings. The same year, however, saw the National League place its own team in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Quakers. Though the Quakers finished dead last in 1883, they soon improved on the field and at the gate. The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

The last straw for the AA Athletics, and several other American Association teams, was the creation of the Players League in 1890. The established leagues lost players to the upstart league, player salaries soared (by the standards of the day), and there simply were not enough fans to support three baseball leagues. Though the Players League folded after but one year, it had taken its toll. The Players League, also known as The Brotherhood, was an attempt to establish a third major baseball league in 1890. ...

Over the years, some of the better American Association teams had jumped to the National League. After the AA's final season in 1891, Baltimore, Louisville, St. Louis, and Washington abandoned the AA to join a 12-team NL, and the American Association folded. Because Philadelphia had an established NL team in the newly-renamed Philles, the second version of the Athletics were no more.